


All I Wanna Do

by Saanak



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: BAMF Maria Rambeau, Established Relationship, F/F, Homophobic Language, It's all fun and games until Joseph shows up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-27 03:49:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19782637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saanak/pseuds/Saanak
Summary: Maria kisses her – she’s figured out a while ago it was usually the best way to get Carol to stop talking. “No buts, no what ifs. We’re coming with you.”ORCarol's brother is getting married. Maria encourages her to go - it goes as well as it can be expected.





	All I Wanna Do

**Author's Note:**

> So an anon dropped into my inbox asking for a fic where Steve gets married and manages to convince Carol to come to the wedding and well, I couldn't resist such a prompt!  
> The title is from an Halestorm song - gotta your inspiration somewhere :") (unofficial title for this fic is La déclaration d'amour, a song by France Gall)  
> All mistakes come from my tired French brain, enjoy!

Carol enters the house one day with the mail for Maria. It’s one of the rare free Saturday they get and they decided to make it a brunch day.

But when Maria sees her entering the kitchen, she immediately knows something is wrong – Carol isn’t wondering where Monica is like she usually is, and seems to barely realize where she is. “Carol? Are you okay?”

“My brother is getting married,” Carol says in a weirdly neutral voice.

“Oh.” Maria isn’t exactly sure how to react: Carol’s relationship with her family has always been… complicated, to say the least. But even so, she also has had a soft spot for her brother, the one who had taught her the names of the stars and how to drive a kart. “When?” It’s a safe question, one that doesn’t require of Carol to dwell on feelings she prefers to keep buried.

“On the 28th of March.” Carol’s answer is still mechanic, almost robotic.

Maria does a quick calculation. It’s three months away – plenty of time for Carol to prepare if she chooses to go, and plenty of time to forget if she doesn’t. But right now, Carol is still looking shaken, so Maria tries something: “So your brother is getting married on the Ides of March?”

Carol blinks, finally taking in where she is and who she’s talking to. A small smile appears on her face. “You know damn well that the Ides of March are on the 15th.”

Maria approaches her and strokes her cheek. “There you are.”

Carol looks sheepish. “Sorry, the news took me by surprise. I had no idea he was engaged.”

“Well,” Maria reasons, “how long has it been since you’ve talked to him?”

The silence that answers her speaks for itself.

“Yeah, I thought so.”

“Auntie Carol! You’re here!”

Monica’s arrival derives their discussion on safer subjects – what they should eat, the very important distinction between pancakes and crêpes or whether or not blueberries constitute enough fruit for a brunch.

* * *

It’s not until much later that they get to talk about the wedding again. They’re getting ready for bed - Carol is staying over, like she usually does on Saturdays, when Maria brings up the subject.

“So… are you planning on going to that wedding?”

Carol grimaces. “I don’t think I will. It’s far away and my _father_ will be there.”

Maria sits on the bed – she likes to think it’s theirs – and pats the spot beside her.

“I know you don’t have the best relationship with you father-“ “That’s an understatement” “-but really, how long has it been since you’ve seen your brother?”

Carol is silent for a few seconds. “Let’s just say that Monica wasn’t even the beginning of the shadow of a thought in your mind.” She continues: “And really, I’m not sure I want to be all the aunties talk about because I’m a huge disappointment to the family for not bringing a man home despite – or certainly because, in their mind – of my brilliant career in the military.”

Maria takes Carol’s hand, kissing it. “Sorry I asked.”

Carol sighs. “No, you’re right, I should go see him. I’m just not sure I’m strong enough to go back there alone”.

There’s a question, an offer, waiting to be asked there. But Carol doesn’t ask, and Maria doesn’t dare offering to go with her.

* * *

Carol calls her brother a few days later – she might not come to the ceremony but she still wants him to know it means a lot that he invited her. Problem is… Steve Danvers is about as stubborn as his sister. 

“So you’re not coming?”

“Sorry, it’s so far away and….”

“And Dad will be there,” he completes.

“Yes. But I wanted you to know that I’m happy for-“

“Carol. It would mean a lot to me and Susanna if you were present. I know we didn’t always get along when we were younger, but I want you there.”

She sighs. Of course he would use her own guilt at not seeing him more. But she knows he’s right.

“I’m not saying yes yet. But, could I bring someone? Or rather, two someones?” She can’t believe she dared to ask for that. She doesn’t even know yet if Maria would want to come.

“Wow, Tiny, I never thought you would find yourself a man, nevermind two!”

She hasn’t heard that surname in so many years - he still says it in the exact same way he did when they were children.

“And I’m hanging up-“

“Wait, no! Of course you can bring people. Just make sure to indicate how many on the RSVP card.”

“And no calling me _that_ if I come.”

She swears she hears him smirk through the line and the thousands of miles between them. “I make no promise.”

“Well, you might receive my answer soon. Or not.” She still has a few – yet deeply important – arrangements to make.

Her brother chuckles. “Alright, see you soon Tiny.”

They bid their farewell and Carol exhales.

* * *

“Will you come to my brother’s wedding with me?” she asks the following night. They just put Monica to bed, and Carol is preparing to head out to go back to her own apartment.

Maria sighs of relief. “I thought you would never ask.”

“What-“

“I mean come on, you really thought I would encourage you to go there with no back up?”

“But-“

Maria kisses her – she’s figured out a while ago it was usually the best way to get Carol to stop talking. “No buts, no what ifs. We’re coming with you.”

Carol smiles against her lips: “We?”

“I figured Monica would want to meet her godmother’s family. If that’s okay with you?”

“Sounds like a fun road-trip,” Carol answers, her anxiety abating a bit.

* * *

They spend the night before the wedding in a motel – in two single beds, Monica alternating between the two during the night. The kid is restless – it’s the first wedding she has ever attended – and in-between “Mom is stealing all the blankets!” and “Auntie Carol snores!”, they manage to make it through the night.

* * *

Susanna, her future sister-in-law, is certainly not what – who - Carol expected. She is a petite brunette with grey eyes that seem to evaluate everything they land on. But what she doesn’t have in stature she compensates by her personality. Susanna Briggs, soon to be Susanna Danvers, is a force to be reckoned with – she’s witty, with a dry humour that could border on mean if she wasn’t also one of the nicest person Carol has ever met.

How her opinionated – and frankly a bit sexist - brother managed to fall in love with such a woman, and how said woman fell in love with _him_ , will probably always be a mystery to Carol.

When her brother sees Carol eye Susanna curiously, he says: “Dad doesn’t like her.”

Carol chuckles. “Then she must be a good one.”

“Yeah, she is,” he says, looking at his wife with fondness, and Carol knows that he’s not settling down with the first woman available – she’s seen the same look in Maria’s eyes while looking at her.

* * *

People start to gather for the ceremony and Carol catches sight of a few familiar faces – people from high school or friends of her brother. She even recognizes a few she used to serve at the café downtown. But all those people fade away when she sees Maria entering.

She’s wearing a grey dress that Carol has never seen before. It’s stunning. Maria’s stunning. Carol can’t help but gawk a little when she sees her enter the room.

Carol then spots Monica in an adorable green dress – that dress Carol knows, she helped pick it - and Carol compliments her, and makes her twirl to show off a bit.

The beginning of the ceremony is announced, and everyone looks for a place to sit.

“So this whole trip was just an excuse to torture me?” Carol whispers as Maria sits next to her, Monica in tow.

“Maybe.” Maria replies with the shadow of a smile. “Besides, we don’t have that many occasions to dress up.”

If she’s being honest with herself, Carol is not sure her heart could handle seeing Maria in such a dress too often. She has enough difficulty as it is to not stare – or maybe even kiss Maria senseless – right here and now.

The ceremony begins, and Monica shushes them from Maria’s right.

“You look beautiful,” Carol murmurs. As much as she likes to joke around, she had to tell Maria how gorgeous she is.

The look Maria gives her is half surprise, half sudden desire, and it sends a chill of anticipation down her spine. “You clean up nicely yourself” is all the answer she gets – along with the flash of a smile - before Maria returns her attention to the ceremony.

* * *

“So what’s the deal between you and my sister?” Steve – now a married man - asks later in the evening, as Maria is enjoying a glass of champagne and watching people dance. She tries to mask how she’s tensed up, and takes a sip of her beverage.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Come on, I’m no idiot. She’s been looking at you all night, and you’ve pretty much done the same.”

“Well, I don’t know any other people here. Besides, she’s been keeping an eye on Monica since this afternoon, so I would hardly call it ‘all night’.” She’s only telling the truth, yet even that feels like a lie. Were Carol and she so obvious?

Her tone might have been a little too harsh, if the way Steve’s jaw tenses is any indication.

“Look, I don’t really approve of y’all people’s lifestyle-“

“And what people is that, exactly?” she interrupts, her knuckles turning white around the glass of champagne.

“You know, the gays, the dykes, whatever it is you call yourselves these days,” he answers with a shrug.

She sees red, barely restraining herself from throwing the rest of her champagne at him. She needs to find Carol and Monica, they need to leave and never –

“But,” he continues, “my sister has never looked this happy. And after what my father and I put her through, she deserves to have someone who loves her as much as she loves them.”

Torn between thanking him – but for what exactly? – and punching him, Maria decides on a compromise. Looking him straight in the eyes, she declares: “We don’t need your blessing, Steve. I love her, and I thank whatever deities are up there that she loves me. But if our ‘people’ bother you so much, just look the other way and leave us be.”

And she leaves him there, jaw-slacked, to find Carol.

* * *

Maria joins her while she’s having a conversation with some of Steve’s old friends. She looks upset, and Carol can’t help but ask: “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit tired I guess.”

“Did you have too much champagne, Rambeau?” Carol asks with a smirk.

Maria used to have an amazing tolerance to alcohol – until she got pregnant with Monica. A year without any alcohol had greatly reduced that tolerance, and Carol loves to tease her for that. Of course, when she does so, she conveniently forgets that her own tolerance is now also greatly lowered – her regimen might not have been as strict as Maria’s, but they both drink less than before.

Maria levels her with a stare, but doesn’t answer. She’s tense in a way that clearly has nothing to do with alcohol, and Carol gets the message.

“You know what,” she says to Maria and Steve’s friends, “Monica’s bedtime is long past, and we’ll be on the road for a while tomorrow, so we’re gonna head out.”

Of course, it’s at this moment that Carol’s dad decides to appear. He was almost late to the ceremony – his own, stupid way to show he didn’t approve of the marriage – and Carol had managed to avoid him for the entirety of the day.

Until now.

Steve’s friends vanish – Carol’s dad’s reputation precedes him.

“Shit,” she murmurs under her breath.

“Want me to fake being sick?” Maria whispers.

Carol barely has the time to shake her head, and her father is in front of them.

“Carol.” – he doesn’t seem to call her ‘kiddo’ anymore, she considers that a win – “Father.” She’s rarely been so grateful for Maria’s presence beside her. It relaxes her in a way nothing else does.

That is, until her father speaks again. “I see you brought a… friend.” He’s too old to use air-quotes, but their presence is clear as day – it makes Carol’s blood boil.

“Best friend actually.” Maria corrects, extending her hand. “Maria Rambeau. Pleasure to meet you, Sir.”

Joseph Danvers looks Maria up and down, judging her with a sneer. He doesn’t shake her hand. “Whatever,” he continues, looking at Carol, “I didn’t think you would dare coming here, especially not with such company.”

Carol considers hitting him. Really, really considers it. She knows exactly at which angle she would strike, with what force. But she remembers that Monica is around, that this is her brother’s _wedding_ , and she refuses to ruin that.

“Don’t worry, we were just leaving.” She grabs Maria’s hand, and starts moving, but Maria resists her traction. When Carol turns to look at her, she sees that Maria has locked eyes with her father. Maria’s whole body is vibrating with anger.

“You know, now that I’ve met you, I will always marvel at the fact that Carol is the most amazing person I’ve ever met. She’s everything you’re not, and more,” Maria declares. When she realizes that she has an audience – some guests have started gathering around them – she continues, a pillar of strength and tenacity that leaves Carol speechless yet again, “I may not be the kind of company she was supposed to bring to this wedding, but honestly I don’t even care. I’m proud to call this woman my friend, and if you had taken even a second to truly look at her, you would be proud too.”

After that speech, Maria is the one who leads Carol away from their audience, stopping only briefly to pick up Monica who was drowsing with a few other kids on a pile of clothes.

Just as they reach the car, Carol gets back to her senses. “Wait! I have to say bye to my brother!”

“Right behind you, Tiny.”

And indeed, Steve is standing a few meters behind them.

“I’m sorry Steve, I didn’t think he would-“

“It’s okay Tiny,” her brother says as he approaches them, “we both know not to expect too much good from the pater anyways.”

And slowly, carefully, he moves to hug her. “I’m proud of you, by the way.”

When he lets her go, Steve adds: “I didn’t think you would ever find someone who can keep up with you. But you have. She’s a good one, keep her close.”

* * *

When they arrive at the motel, they have to carry Monica out of the car and into their room. It’s a quiet night, the motel is mostly empty and as she watches Maria put Monica to bed, a wave of love rushes over Carol. She’s seen Maria do it hundreds of times, knows every gesture and which song sing for every type of nightmare and restless night. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she would get to love someone so much – so to love two people in such a way was not even in the realm of possibilities. Yet here she is.

She’s still staring – did she do anything else today? – when Maria rises from her place besides Monica’s bed.

“Where’s your head at?”

She doesn’t have the words – has never been much of a poet – to say the devotion and gratitude she feels towards Maria, so she does the next best thing and kisses her slowly, reverently.

* * *

They hit the road the next morning. It’s a 7 hour drive, and they finally arrive home around five. Monica, full of restless energy after such a long drive, runs to her bedroom to collect some of her toys. Carol and Maria are alone for the first time in three days.

“So. Monica will be at my parent’s tomorrow,” Maria declares while grabbing Monica’s bag from the trunk.

Carol’s eyebrows rise. “All day?”

Maria smiles, her eyes hungry. “Allllll day.”

“My, my, Captain Rambeau, what do you have in mind?”

“Something involving you, me, and a bed.” She’s not sure she will make it to tomorrow if Maria keeps talking like that.

“And the blue dress?” She _has_ to ask.

Maria eyes her severely, with only a hint of humour. “Only if you don’t rip it off.”

“I can work with that.”

“Good. Then get ready for tomorrow, Captain Danvers.”

That said, all there is left for Carol to do is grab her own bag and follow Maria. She stops just before entering the house, taking a deep breath. All thoughts of her father are gone. She’s never quite as content as when she comes home – her two favourite people are inside. All is well.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't have a specific design in mind for the dress Maria is wearing at the wedding, but I decided that it would be grey because Lashana Lynch ROCKS grey dresses (you know the dress - the one she was wearing at some Marvel event with Brie).  
> Hope you liked this story, feel free to leave kudos, comments or prompts!  
> Always and forever alexdumas-ghost on tumblr if you wanna say hi!


End file.
